U.S. Coup Attempt In Venezuela Lacks International Support

There is little doubt where 'western' media stand with regards to the U.S. led coup-attempt (vid) in Venezuela. But their view does not reflect the overwhelming international recognition the Venezuelan government under President Nicolás Maduro continues to have.

The Rothschild family's house organ, the Economist, changed the background of its Twitter account to a picture of the Random Dude™, Juan Guaidó, who the U.S. regime changers created to run the country.

The supposedly neutral news agencies are no better than the arch-neoliberal Economist. The Reuters' Latin America office also changed its header picture to Random Dude. It reverted that after being called out.

Agence France-Press stated at 11:10 utc yesterday that "tens of thousands" would join a rally.

Tens of thousands of protesters are set to pour onto the streets of Venezuela's capital #Caracas Saturday to back opposition leader Juan Guaido's calls for early elections as international pressure increased on President #Maduro to step down http://u.afp.com/Jouu

That was at 7:10am local time in Caracas several hours before the rally took place. Such "predictive reporting" is now supposed to be "news". A bit later AFP posted a video:

VIDEO: Thousands of opposition protesters pour onto the streets of Caracas to back Venezuela's opposition leader Juan #Guaido who is calling for early elections, as international pressure increases on President Nicolas #Maduro to step down

That was at 11:50am local time. The attached video did not show "thousands" but some 200 people mingling around.

Hours later a pro Random Dude rally took indeed place. From what I gathered it was attended by some 50-80 thousand people. (Others calculate less.) Flags of the United States and Israel were raised: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Pro Chavismo rallies took place in several Venezuelan cities. These were not billed as anti-coup demonstrations but as commemorations of the 20 year anniversary of socialist policies. That might have effected their size. The rally in Caracas was attended by some 20-30 thousand people: 1, 2, 3.

The New York Times report on yesterday's events in Venezuela mentions the pro-government rallies only in paragraph 33 to 35 of its 37 paragraph long story.

The shorter Washington Post report puts them in paragraph 15 and 16 with lines that are consciously constructed to make the rallies seem tiny and Maduro look like a liar:

The pro-government demonstration in central Caracas had drawn about 300 people by 10:30 a.m. Dressed in red and carrying ruling party flags, they were marching toward the presidential palace.

“Our people, once again, overflowing this avenue,” Maduro said, addressing his supporters. “Those who accuse us of being a dictatorship must know that since the foundation of the revolution, we have become a profoundly free and democratic people. Venezuela will never have a dictatorship.”

The rally took place after noon. How many people walked somewhere at 10:30am is irrelevant to the total participation. The pictures prove that the venue where the rally took place was indeed quite full.

During his speech Maduro called for new elections to the Venezuelan parliament, the National Assembly. The parliament, currently not functional as the Supreme Court blocked its power for not following its judgments, is controlled by the opposition.

The U.S. is now trying some gambit over 'aid' it wants to deliver to the opposition in Venezuela. National Security Advisor John Bolton originally planned to deliver it through the Red Cross:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last Saturday that we would be prepared to donate an initial $20 million dollars to the Red Cross, to the UN High Commission for Refugees. So we’re looking at all this very carefully.

But the Red Cross rejected such politicization of its traditionally neutral role:

Alexandra Boivin, ICRC delegation head for the United States and Canada, said the ICRC had told U.S. officials that whatever plans “they have to help the people of Venezuela, it has to be shielded from this political conversation.”...ICRC director of global operations Dominik Stillhart said the committee would only take part in such coordinated efforts if they are executed “with the agreement of the authorities, whoever the authorities are.”

[Random Dude] said that in the coming days, the opposition would try to move humanitarian aid into the country by land and sea along three border points, including the Colombian city of Cucuta. He described the move as a “test” for Venezuela’s armed forces, which will have to choose if they allow the much needed aid to pass, or if they instead obey the orders of Maduro’s government.

The 'aid' must be thoroughly checked before it enters the country and the government should take care to distribute it evenly. During the war on Syria so called 'humanitarian aid' from Turkey, Israel and Jordan was used as cover for large scale weapon and munition transports which mostly ended up in the hands of Jihadists.

So far the Venezuelan military proved to be solidly in the camp of the government. Two officers, a military attache in the Venezuelan embassy in Washington DC and an air force general who fled to Columbia, are the only known defectors. Both had office jobs and did not command any operational units. This analysis provides that without military support the coup attempt is unlikely to be successful. As the Venezuelan author concludes:

For now, Venezuela faces a government weak in the economic and social arenas, but with strong judicial and military institutions. This will be the case unless —weakened by international pressure— Chavismo’s emerging fissures gather momentum and are able to undermine the government’s stability. However, as long as the U.S. government’s strategy operates on the basis of threats, Chavismo will have a reason to remain strong and unified.

The U.S. failed to get sufficient international support for its recognition of Random Dude as president of Venezuela. So far only Canada, Israel and 14 Latin American states took its side. A few European nations are slowly following.

But no international organization supports the position. Mexico and Uruguay, both members of the Lima group - a 'coalition of the willing' created by Canada, rejected to recognize Guaido and called instead for new elections. Secretary of State Pompeo's attempt to get the Organization of American States (OAS) on his side failed:

The efforts were unsuccessful, garnering only 16 favourable votes out of the 34 countries, with US allies Guyana, Santa Lucia, and Jamaica abstaining.

The United Nations Secretary General Guterres announced that the UN only recognizes the Maduro government. Italy blocked a European Union recognition of the Random Dude while the EU parliament, which has no power in foreign policies, followed the U.S. position. The EU now only demands new elections to be held sometime in the future. The African Union supports Maduro and spoke out against the coup attempt. Russia, China, NATO member Turkey, South Africa, Iran and Syria spoke in support of the Maduro government.

In total the 'international support' the U.S. led coup attempt has gained so far is quite thin. It has no international legitimacy. Unfortunately only few if any of the 'western' media will point that out.

The image of this Guaido makes one think unvoluntarily of those calaveras that mexicains put everywhere on la Dia des Muertos ,with a candle inside.

Thanks for your articles on Venezuela.Please don't forget to watch the hallucinatory events developing in France:Parliament authorizing preventive artrests,power given to the prefects to arrest anybody on suspicion of wanting to demonstrate.Police pursuing and searching redaction of internet journal that posted audio of Benalla andcompany in flagrant delit,etc.etc.

It is clear to everybody now that this so called president is really nuts in a psychiatric way,he enjoys insulting the people,everyday again...;:

Trump's speech today,
Trump will probably announce a US war on Venezuela later on in his speech that he is going to give.
That might be the reason he have already sent so many thousands of troops to mexican border past days.

He’s a regular at the village pub, where some drinkers think he should be the local MP — or prime minister, both positions once held by a local, now forgotten, politician called David Cameron. Clarkson has consistently dismissed the idea of involving himself in politics, even when 50,000 of his fans voted via the government’s e-petition website for him to be prime minister (the petition was rejected on the basis that governments don’t decide who gets to No 10).

What makes it think that it has any right to decide who resides in the Miraflores Palace?

John G. @ 97
I second the request: please feel free to tell us about the role of central banks and private finance in recent history. Please confine it to our sector of the solar system rather than the Universe at large. Mentioning the Rothschilds is optional...

The Constitutional claims forwarded by Guaido are just a pretext, and are being cherry-picked to justify what has always been considered a "new administration" rather than a caretaker government whose sole purpose is to arrange new elections.

In Washington, Guaido's representative is already outlining big changes in economic policy. He is saying the "new" government has three initial priorities, of which new elections is third on the list: "The envoy said the top priority is restoring political stability, followed by rebuilding the economy. He said he hopes elections can be held by year-end." i.e. there is no intention of elections in the near-term, and there likely never was.

Central banks have little power. They are merely the monetary agencies/departments of governments. They could easily just be part of Treasury in the electronic money era.
The politicians have the real power.

As I have written about here many times, the central banks are private and owned by the same folks that own the BIS, IMF, World Bank and the SWIFT system. These same folks "own" a big number of the politician in Western governments that you say have all the power.

This private ownership of the global tools of finance and politicians in Western governments has been going on now for centuries and the whole Central Bank part of the Western nation forced architecture is Empire's way of extending "democracy". Rules of private ownership of property and inheritance are part of the Western package of a hierarchy of oligarchs in nations and globally all tied together by the central banks you say have no power.

I watched Oz's weekly Govt-approved ration of RT News on TV last night. It was 13 minutes duration, down from 90+ minutes a couple of years ago.
RT confines their TV broadcast to headlines and promoting items and stories on the RT website.
The biggest news was that RT has interviewed Maduro, which apparently involved asking Maduro questions and then letting Maduro answer them himself.

I was wrong, Venezuela wasnt really mentioned in Trump's speech.
I guess the regime change will need some more speed at this moment if this is going to be quick, perhaps the coming days we will see something?

Bloody Canada: Cheerleading the Lima Group’s Plot to Overthrow the Government of Venezuela
by Maria Paez Victor

With an electoral process that Jimmy Carter declared the best in the world, how does this make President Maduro illegitimate? The voting process has an electronic, fingerprint and paper trail, practically fraud proof, and it is the same system used in 2015 when the opposition gained the most votes for the legislature and indeed in which Guaidó was elected. Why was it fine then when the opposition won but not fine when they have lost?